“Lift sharing”, “ride-sharing”, “car-sharing” or “carpooling” -it doesn’t matter what you call it, it boils down to the same thing - two or more people sharing a car to get from A to B rather than driving alone. The benefits are numerous both for yourself, your family, your community and the environment. You save money on running costs, you save time looking for parking spaces and you help to save the planet by reducing your carbon footprint.

National CarShare is the UK’s longest-established free national car sharing service.

The term ‘car share’ refers to the practice of more than one person driving together rather than driving alone. It is also known as “lift sharing”, “ride sharing”, “drive sharing” and “carpooling”. The person getting the lift gives the driver a cash contribution towards the fuel costs, so both of them save money. The amount of money that changes hands is up to the parties concerned, but the driver must not participate on a “for profit” basis.

Alternatively, if driver and passenger share on a regular basis and each owns a car, they may prefer to operate on a “day on, day off” or “week on, week off” basis, where they take it in turns to drive.

See also the FAQs Section and be sure to download and read the items headed Personal Security and Terms and Conditions in the Downloads Section of this site. When registering with National CarShare you will be asked to confirm that you have read and accept to be bound by the contents of these documents.